#blizzard of 2015

[acquired-stardust]

Transformers: Devastation PC 2015

[chatretr0]

Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy Development Build

[wp100]

man i guess heroes of the storm and starcraft really are dead games now

[msbigredmachine]

☕Roman Reigns Menu☕

☕SIGNATURE DRINKS☕

Entangled

In a wealthy Hartford, CT suburb, two best friends fall into a tempting storm when a rich, devastatingly handsome man moves in next door. Wealthy, irresistible, and dangerously disruptive. Passion, jealousy, and chaos ignite…and nobody’s playing it safe. Based on characters from The Boy Next Door. [In progress]

Finding Angel (BRAND NEW)

In a world of bright lights, dark secrets, and sizzling chemistry, pro wrestling's biggest star finds his Angel. But as undeniable as their passion is, so are the obstacles threatening to tear them apart. [In progress]

The Boy Next Door

A sexy mysterious man is new in town…but mystery is not all he brings with him… (Co-written with @harmshake) AU romance/psychological thriller. [Completed]

Power Couple - The Series

They say, “Behind every great man stands a great woman”. But behind the Universal Champion and the Tribal Chief is a different breed of woman, a force of nature capable of bringing even the Head of the Table to his knees…and vice versa. [Completed]

Into The Deep End - The Saga

Sasha has always tried to play it safe, to keep her life as simple and risk-free as possible. Things change, however, when she garners the interest of a handsome, charming, younger man from a completely different world than hers. As she starts to question her own rules, is she ready to take the biggest chance of them all? Will she let herself take that dive? My very first Roman fic set circa 2014. [Completed]

Targets 

Roman Reigns is an agent in the secret organization The Authority and one of the world’s deadliest assassins. When he crosses paths with a mysterious woman during an assignment, he makes a life-changing decision that switches his role from the hunter to the hunted. (AU Espionage Story)  [Completed]

Roman & Jaida: The We Are Series 

He’s not her most favorite person in the world, but she finds it in her heart to be there for him in his time of need. In return, he shows her just how much he appreciates it. Set around the events of the 2015 Royal Rumble and the Blizzard Raw the night after. [Completed]

You Consume Me

She was beautiful, tempting, carefree, and everything I thought I wanted in a woman. One taste and I was hooked, abandoning everything and everyone I cared about to be with her. What I failed to see was the other side of her; a side that was dark, dangerous…Deadly.  [Completed]

Come What May 

Today was supposed to be the happiest day of her life. So why did she feel like she was making the biggest mistake of her life? (Roman Reigns/OC/Tama Tonga)  [Completed]

☕DOUBLE SHOTS☕

You Again 

That awkward moment when the biggest star in pro wrestling happens to be your high school bully…and he’s in your office. A 2-part series [Completed]

Talking Body 

Photoshoots, lingerie and a long overdue baecation are in store for Roman and Gia heading into their five-year(ish) anniversary. Let’s hope it all goes off without a hitch. [Completed]

☕SPECIALTY BREWS☕

Co-Star - Juliana “Juju” Hamilton, a celebrated TV star, and Roman Reigns, a former WWE icon stepping into his first major acting role, play star-crossed lovers on a hit series. But as they prepare to film their first sex scene, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.

Off The Record - When passion gets recorded, it becomes the hottest track of the year. Roman/Black Fem Rapper!OC

Midnight Sparks - On New Year’s Eve, the OTC retreats to a quiet bar, craving solitude. When a confident and captivating woman crosses his path, their connection ignites, turning a quiet night into something unforgettable.

Nothing Left - The tale of a marriage built on trust, torn apart by lies, and a woman’s breaking point that should never have been reached.

Handsy - When the OTC asks for help and you oblige him, he’s very happy to return the favor.

Behind The Mask -  Sometimes love demands that you fight not for yourself—but for someone who can’t fight back.

Cheat Meal - The OTC is hungry for a whole lot more than just good food.

Butterscotch & Chocolate - What’s better than a hunky, rich and powerful Samoan boyfriend? Why, two, of course! (Roman Reigns/OC/The Rock)

Kitty Kat - After a lifetime of searching, the Tribal Chief may have finally found the woman of his dreams. Post-Summerslam 2024.

Black Sweatpants - Why did the Tribal Chief arrive late to the Pat McAfee Show? Based on Roman’s appearance on March 22 2024.

Checkmate - The new Smackdown GM reminds the Tribal Chief who’s boss, in more ways than one. The aftermath of the highly entertaining WrestleMania 40 Press Conference.

Santa Daddy🎄- All the Tribal Chief wants for Christmas is you.

Sugar & The Chief - Reader is a best-selling erotic author reflecting on the success of her newest novel, which is based on her secret affair with the man who became her muse.

Say Cheese - A steamy after-work rendezvous with the Tribal Chief and his princess is captured in 4K. 

In Peace - When one of the Wiseman’s incessant phone calls comes at the wrong time 🙄.

Here With Me - As the Bloodline Civil War takes an unexpected turn of events, Reader comes up with the perfect pick-me-up for her Tribal Chief. Post-Summerslam 2023.

M.K.A.M. (My Kinda Morning) - Who says birthday sex has to end after the birthday?

Dirty Little Secret - They are each other’s escape, too good to let go of. Until they have to let go.

I Still Heart You - This year, Valentine’s Day takes an interesting turn for two exes.

Latch - The most meaningful conversations take place in the shower. 

Daddy The Sub - The Tribal Chief comes home to receive his punishment.

Feedback - The Tribal Chief loves it when you tell show him how much you like his promos. Set after that epic unification contract signing segment of Feb 25, 2022

Sex On The Beach - Remember that “Running Around Naked” promo the Tribal Chief cut some months ago? Well, this is exactly what happened on the private island…in my mind at least.

Boss Lady - It’s always good to have a close working relationship with your boss. But what if you want to be closer? More importantly, what if the feeling is mutual? AU.

I Won’t Let You Fall -She was ready to give up on herself, but one man had to let her know he was not ready to lose her, even if it meant revealing a certain secret he’d kept to himself for years. 

Gold Digger - Roman is having a hard time getting rid of his gold-digging ex-wife. What exactly does he have to do to get her out of his life permanently? AU.

Believe - Still hurting from a nasty breakup, Livia is convinced that love does not exist. But Roman decides to prove her wrong…in the most romantic way possible.

The One That Got Away - On the biggest night of her career, Hollywood movie star Beverley Tyler looks back on what might have been. There are things more important than fame and fortune. Beverley learned that the hard way. 

The Mechanic - An impromptu trip to a service station leads to an encounter with a sexy mechanic. Her car isn’t the only thing he works on. AU.

☕ESPRESSO SHOTS☕

Kiss Me (200 Words in May Challenge)

All banners made by me.

Credit to all the owners of the pictures and gifs.

Divider by @thecutestgrotto

Please don't steal my content. Thank you!

[o-the-mts]

TEN YEARS AGO!!! Boston's historic snowfall began, and a Yeti emerged.

DONT EVER CHANGE SOMERVILLE #bostonyeti #yeti #somerville #winterwonderland #snowday

[theguywithaplan]

List of Video Games turning ten (10) years old in 2025

Alone in the Dark: Illumination (if you thought the AitD game from last year was bad, check this shit out).

Angry Birds 2 (yes, there was a 2).

Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival (two AC games from 2015 and neither of them were what people wanted).

Assassin's Creed Syndicate (the Bri'ish one).

Atelier Shallie

Axiom Verge

Batman: Arkham Knight

Battlefield: Hardline (the last game from Visceral Games, the guys who made the Dead Space series).

The Beginner's Guide (the second game from the creator of The Stanley Parable).

Bloodborne (anything for the 10th anniver-- no. Never gonna happen).

Broken Age

Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash

Cities: Skylines

Crypt of the NecroDancer

Devil's Third (one of the rarest Wii U games ever).

Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance

Disney Infinity 3.0

Dragon Ball XenoVerse (the first one. not the second).

Dying Light

Evolve (these guys would go on to make Back 4 Blood).

Fallout 4

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD

Game of Thrones (the Telltale game)

Guitar Hero Live

Halo 5: Guardians

Hatred (a game so edgy and terrible that it got itself kicked off of Steam).

Helldivers (the first one).

Heroes of the Storm (the Blizzard MOBA).

Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number

HuniePop (for all you pervs out there).

I Am Bread

Just Cause 3

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes (the quintessential VR game)

Kerbal Space Program

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse (one of the few Wii U games that hasn't been ported to the Switch. And probably never will be).

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes

Lego Dimensions (a crossover game with about a billion different franchises).

Lego Jurassic World

Life is Strange (controversial opinion: I sacrificed Chloe and felt nothing).

Mario Party 10 (the only MP on the Wii U)

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate (back when the 3DS was single-handedly keeping MH alive)

Mortal Kombat X

Need for Speed (the reboot)

The Order: 1886

Ori and the Blind Forest

Pillars of Eternity

Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon

Prison Architect

Rainbow Six: Siege

Rare Replay

Resident Evil: Revelations 2

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rock Band 4

Rocket League

Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell (RIP Volition. You were too good for the modern day).

Shadowrun: Hong Kong

Skylanders: SuperChargers

Soma (the best horror game ever made. Play it if you haven't yet).

Splatoon

Star Wars: Battlefront (the EA reboot).

StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void (RIP StarCraft. You were too good for modern day Blizzard).

Steven Universe: Attack the Light!

Story of Seasons (the very fight one)

Super Mario Maker

Tales from the Borderlands (the best thing that Telltale EVER made).

Tales of Zestiria

Tembo the Badass Elephant (published by Sega and developed by Game Freak... the Pokemon guys).

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Total War: Attila

Transformers: Devastation (RIP PlatinumGames. You... kinda started sucking after Astral Chain).

Undertale (yep, it's happening).

Until Dawn

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (just in time for the 4th game)

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood (remember, kids: Nazi lives don't matter).

Xenoblade Chronicles X (finally escaping the Wii U this year).

Yakuza 5

Yo-Kai Watch

Yoshi's Woolly World

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Sharing A Bed (4) Masterlist

part one, part two, part three

As He Goes, So I Go (ao3) - cloej88

Summary: It’s November of 2015, and Dan and Phil have just finished their UK leg of The Amazing Tour Is Not on Fire. They’ve sworn off the romantic side of their relationship in order to protect the rest of this life they’ve built. However, with all of the close proximity of touring, their connection feels headier and more charged than ever. As soon as the UK tour ends, they fly to the US for a quick book-signing trip, but they become snowed in by a blizzard in Chicago. In the solitude of their shared hotel room, can they fumble their way back to one another?

Featuring: Pining, lots of fluff, the TATINOF UK afterparty in all its glory, an arcade bar in snowy Chicago, a NYTimes How to Fall in Love quiz, lots of introspective musing about how much these idiots adore one another, and some well-earned smut.

dear to the heart (ao3) - dontcrydraft

Summary: Dan and Phil meet each other in real life for the first time, and they end their first day together by watching a movie on Phil's couch. Except Dan gets a bit too comfortable and falls asleep.

for your eyes only (ao3) - blossomsphan

Summary: and they were roommates

(the fluffy tatinof bed sharing fic no one asked for in 2024… or did they?)

Honey (ao3) - p4stmybedtime

Summary: ““Morning, bear” Phil murmured softly, before nuzzling his nose into the crook of Dan’s neck, his delicate lashes tickling the sensitive skin there. He shifted back down and rubbed his pink cheek against Dan’s chest, before lying still and exhaling calmly.”

Or: Just some soft morning cuddles. They’re in love.

i thought that i was dreaming (ao3) - twoheadlights (fizzfic)

Summary: Dan and Phil and the beds they've shared. Basically.

milagros (ao3) - bloodyscarab

Summary: a conversation in the dark. before bed.

because that's when all the most authentic conversations take place.

oh, baby, seasons change (ao3) - antiadvil

Summary: dnp sharing a bed in 2010 x them sharing a bed now :3

On Tour Bus Beds (ao3) - katiecal1013

Summary: “Best buddies can share a bed!” - Phil Lester, 2024

our love keeps the things it finds (ao3) - dbg_708

Summary: The minutes they spent at the top of Manchester, when he first saw Dan in a train station, looking at him out of breath and sweaty in front of hundreds of people, giving him flowers when he was finally coming back home, and kissing him silly in their kitchen all reside in the same crook of his heart: unrelated to and away from his aches and pains.

Rock, Paper, Scissors! (ao3) - xXspencerXx

Summary: Dan and Phil realise they have to share a bed during the american leg of their TATINOF tour.

Safe With Me (ao3) - Sillylittleroomba

Summary: Dan and Phil have always had two bedrooms, but that doesn't mean much.

Or: Phil can't sleep on the first night back home during their break from tour. Dan is always the solution to this problem.

A frankly irresponsible amount of domestic fluff, set January 2025.

what would you do (if they never found us out) (ao3) - weuspronouns

Summary: It's Vidcon 2015 and Phil checks out after two drinks. Despite it going against their every rule, a tipsy Dan decides to visit his hotel room anyway.

wouldn't it be nice (ao3) - possumdnp

Summary: Four conversations Dan and Phil have in their tour bus beds over the years.

[staydandy]

The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note (2021) - 云顶天宫 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : The iron triangle: Wu Xie, Zhang Qi Ling and Wang Pang Zi find themselves on a train headed for the mountainous Korean border in search of a mysterious, mythical palace in a world of glaciers, avalanches, and blizzards. They have no idea why Wu San Sheng has sent the message that brought them all together again, but they soon discover that they are not alone in their search for the peak that holds the palace. As they move deeper within the maze of mountain tunnels, all of them begin to wonder if this adventure will be their final quest. (MDL) AKA : The Lost Tomb 2: Heavenly Palace on the Clouds

Whumpees : Wu Xie played by Bai Shu (center) • Zhang Qi Ling played by Zhao Dong Ze (right) • Wang Pang Zi played by Zhang Bo Yu (left)

Country : 🇨🇳 China Genres : Action, Adventure, Mystery, Supernatural, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Adapted from book 4 of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" (盗墓笔记) by Kennedy Xu (南派三叔) • I think this is my least favorite Wu Xie actor, but I love the actor who plays Pang Zi (it's the same one as in Wrath of the Sea) • Favorite episode is pink • Suggested watch order of series (not including movies & spin-offs) : – 1. Mystic Nine (2016) – 2. The Lost Tomb (2015) – 3. The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) >> 4. The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note (2021) – 5. The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) – 6. Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) – 7. Tomb of the Sea (2018) – 8. Reunion: Sound of the Providence (2020) – 9. Reunion: Sound of the Providence 2 (2020)

Related Lists : The Lost Tomb (2015) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) - Full List • Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) - Full List

Episodes on List : 17 Total Episodes : 24

*Spoilers below*

01 : [flashback] Wu Xie trapped in collapsed tomb rubble … [present] hospitalized, conscious but unresponsive, [flashback] trapped in the rubble.. [present] wandering around barefoot, unsteady, dizzy, in & out of consciousness … attacked, cloth over mouth, injected with something; pain, seizure, dropped out of car unconscious … nightmare … rolls down a hill, hits a tree … ensnared in a trap, thrown around & tied up.. Wang Pang Zi tied up & dragged in the same trap … bit by a snake

02 : Face swollen from bee stings … scratched by a poisoned arrow, passes out … cared for, fever

04 : Wu Xie dizzy, unsteady … Wu Xie, Zhang Qi Ling, & Pang Zi exhausted … Wu Xie & Pang Zi knocked out with gas

05 : (at end) Wu Xie & Pang Zi almost fall into a ravine

06 : … continued from previous ep. ... Wu Xie & Pang Zi almost fall into a ravine

08 : Wu Xie exhausted, unsteady … collapses, suffering from hypoxia (low oxygen), passes out.. hallucinating.. dragged down a hill

11 : Falls off a cliff, caught by the safety line

14 : Kicked, hit his head, knocked out … Pang Zi hallucinating … Wu Xie in a daze, unresponsive … (@ 26:30-28:57, 38:43-40:45 gross many-legged bugs, including a giant one .. I srsly had to skip most of this .. I can't with these things) … shock

15 : Pang Zi grabbed by a nasty giant bug … (at end) Wu Xie choked

16 : … continued from previous ep. ... Choked

17 : Qi Ling not feeling well.. cuts his own fingers

18 : Wu Xie grabbed by a monster (thankfully not another bug) & dropped from a great height … (@ 5:14-6:50 more fucking bugs) … wakes, hurt from the fall … passed out/sleeping, wakes coughing, dehydrated, passes out again.. wakes coughing again, chest pain, helped to walk … weaker, blurry vision … wakes from sleep with pain … rib pain, coughing.. Pang Zi sore from being dropped from a great height … Wu Xie has nightmare, pain

19 : (@ 8:23-8:51 gross bug stuff) … Coughing, rib pain … pukes

20 : (near end) Bit

21 : Panic, hyperventilating … attacked … (@ 31:23-32:40, 33:59-35:32 bugs!) falls off a platform, spits up blood.. cared for, chest pain

22 : Coughing, pain

24 : (big bug demon thing) … Held hostage, gun to his head.. Pang Zi tied up

More Whump Lists for this show: love-me-a-lotta-whump

[cherriesnkisses]

NEW YEARS CHARACTERS 🍾

2013 - he takes you to the ball drop in nyc

2013 - he’s really drunk at a nye party and snaps

2013 - you bring him to a friends nye party as your fake boyfriend

2013 - “taste”

2014 - you agree to be each others midnight kiss

2014 - you can’t find him at midnight

2015 - you’ve never seen him drunk/high

2017 - you make him dance to “snowman” outside in the blizzard with you

2017 - you tell him you’re pregnant right as the clock hits midnight

2017 - you’re both famous and secretly dating, then people see you kiss at a nye party

2018 - you’re engaged and haven’t told him you’re pregnant yet

uni - you’re best friends but he likes you

mafia - he falls for you instantly at a nye ball but you’re another leaders daughter

[acquired-stardust]

Transformers: Devastation PC 2015

[dirt-piper]

The TF2 problem

Don't take anything I say here as gospel - much of it is my own speculation and musings.

TF2 is my favorite game of all time. I started playing it wayyy back in 2012, and while I don't have that many hours racked up total (a meager ~1K), I can at least consider myself to be a few rungs above 'total n00b' in terms of familiarity with the game. I've experienced the best and worst eras of the game - from the Love & War update to the current botting crisis, and I have loved TF2 every step of the way.

But just because I love it, doesn't mean I think it's flawless!

Around 2015-2016 I noticed (alongside damn near everyone else playing TF2) that TF2 was changing, and not in a particularly good way. Love & War was in many ways a perfect update for TF2 - it gave attention and goodies to both the highly casual and the highly competitive ends of the playerbase, with a fancy new taunt system bundled with some pretty fun new weapons. At about this time, Blizzard announced the imminent release of their new game Overwatch, which was directly inspired by TF2 - and now presented itself as being a direct competitor to TF2 in its own niche. This, of course, turned out to be bogus - Overwatch is its own game with its own niche that has a playerbase nearly wholly separate from TF2's.

A common trend amongst the TF2 playerbase at the time was this sense of dread regarding Overwatch - either that it would suck up the entire TF2 playerbase, leaving the game to die, or that Blizzard would try their damnedest to manifest such a reality. Either way, a ton of die-hard TF2 fans began to absolutely loathe Blizzard's new game (before it even came out, I might add) for so much as daring to 'unthrone' TF2.

This entire premise is stupid. It's stupid now, and it was stupid then. But the fear became so pervasive throughout the community that, eventually, it seemed like VALVe was getting scared too. The tone and focus of TF2's updates began to shift far more heavily towards the competitive end of TF2's playerbase - which has never been the majority - as VALVe appeared to try to pivot TF2 into a stance where it could better "compete" with the upcoming Overwatch. Bits and pieces of this started showing with Gun Mettle and Tough Break, before Meet your Match completely revamped the game into a more competitive-focused format.

Why they would do this didn't really make sense - if VALVe wanted to compete against Blizzard's new AAA FPS with a competitive scene, then why would they try to remodel TF2 to position it as a "more valid competitor" to Overwatch when CS:GO was already a proven champion in that space? TF2 doesn't need to compete with Overwatch. It never did. So why would they expend so much effort to change TF2's course when, frankly, it was doing fine as-is?

Looking back now, with nearly a decade of hindsight and a bit more insight into VALVe actually works, I think the picture is a bit clearer, or at least the one I've formed in my head is. I don't think TF2's sudden drastic shift in focus was the result of VALVe scrambling to shore TF2 up against the onslaught of Overwatch - I think it was, rather, the TF2 team scrambling to shore TF2 up against VALVe.

VALVe is not a normal game studio. VALVe is not only lucky enough to be their own publisher (therefore making them a completely independent studio - yes, VALVe games are 'indie'), but also extremely lucky enough to be the de-facto publisher for nearly the entire PC game industry, thanks to Steam. VALVe makes money off of every single game sold through Steam whether they made it or not, essentially guaranteeing them a constant stream of exorbitant income regardless of their own output. They have a complete vertical monopoly of their own industry - they own themselves (VALVe has no shareholders whatsoever), they own their products, they own their publisher, they own their distributor - and now, with the Steam Deck, they own their hardware platforms too. VALVe answers to nobody but themselves, because they own everything that could possibly impact their business.

VALVe is, in a lot of ways, in a somewhat similar situation to AT&T (aka 'Ma Bell') back before the breakup of the phone company back in 1982. AT&T owned the entire phone network - from the switching equipment to the phone lines to the handsets plugged into them - and they charged every person in the country who leased phone service from them (you couldn't own a phone back then!) a subscription fee. AT&T, then, had basically infinite money to do whatever the hell they wanted with (though the government strictly regulated their commercial activities so they could not compete in any industry but telephony). As a result of this, Bell labs, the core Research & Development branch of AT&T, was in a very unique scenario - projects undertaken by Bell labs researchers weren't given budgets - they were given quotas.

AT&T didn't care how much money or time was spent on a project by a Bell labs researcher, so long as it ultimately resulted in something that benefited the company. And this model worked very, very well - Bell labs' researchers gave the world the transistor, the laser, the CCD, the Unix operating system, the C programming language, and received 10 Nobel peace prizes.

VALVe, through Steam, has a free, infinite revenue stream. VALVe's staff, then, effectively have infinite money and time at their disposal to make whatever they desire - so long as it ultimately results in something that benefits VALVe. Or, at least, so long as the people who hold the most seniority at VALVe think it would benefit VALVe.

It's no particular secret that the old guard at VALVe are, largely, unenthusiastic about TF2. Remember - Team Fortress is VALVe's oldest franchise. The original Team Fortress mod was released in August of 1996 - a mere one month after the Nintendo 64's initial release - a full 2 years before Half-life. Sure, VALVe didn't initially create Team Fortress, but they bought Team Fortress Software for a reason - Team Fortress was insanely popular. And it's not just TF2 that has absurd longevity, it's the entire Team Fortress franchise; here's a match from a Quake Team Fortress competitive tournament that is currently ongoing as I write this post:

VALVe acquired Team Fortress software with the premise that the sequel to Team Fortress would become an expansion to Half-life, thereby increasing Half-life's desirability by attaching it to the sequel of one of the most popular FPS games available at the time. TF2, of course, took a bit longer than expected - so Team Fortress Classic, a more-or-less direct port of Team Fortress to goldsrc, was released in 1999 to satiate people until the real TF2 came out.

That took another 8 years.

When TF2 finally released, it pioneered the concept of games as a service - that you could buy a game once and it would receive new content, features, fixes, etc. indefinitely - for free. These were not paid expansions or DLC, these were actual updates made directly to the game that anyone could get access to so long as they happened to own the game. And, once TF2 went free to play, the deal became even better. This model was utterly groundbreaking in 2007 - it's the standard for how most games operate today, sure, but only because TF2 proved how well it could work.

The issue, of course, is that VALVe was eternally working on TF2. By 2015, Team Fortress 2 had been in development in some form or another for 17 years. With this perspective, it seems understandable why some of the more senior members of VALVe would have grown sick of Team Fortress - they'd been doing or dealing with the same game for nearly 2 decades.

But, of course, newer hires at VALVe would have nowhere near the same level of fatigue - many of them were likely still very passionate about the game, and eager to continue its lifespan - but when the people who sign their paychecks and review their employee performances are sick and tired of hearing about Team Fortress, it becomes less and less attractive to pour effort into the game, no matter how much they may personally wish to.

Under these circumstances, the tonal shift TF2 experienced around the release of Overwatch appears more as an internal struggle - the remaining TF2 team trying desperately to prove to their seniors that TF2 was not yet ready to be phased out, that the game could modernize and remain relevant in the modern competitive gaming scene, that just because they were sick of TF2 didn't mean that everyone was.

So, they gambled. They bet TF2's future on a new revamp to adapt it to the then-modern world of competitive e-sports... and fumbled it pretty hard with Meet your Match.

The problem with the TF2 team's attempt to make TF2 more suited to the modern world of competitive gaming was that they seemed to overlook that, to the average non-competitive TF2 player, the game as it was was perfectly fine. Through Quickplay, any player could be automatically placed into a server matching their desired criteria and just... play. A server would stay on a given map for roughly 45 minutes (though players could vote to extend the map timer) regardless of how many rounds there were, meaning that everyone got the same amount of time to play the map regardless of how good or bad either team, as a whole, performed. This game players plenty of time to just... have fun playing TF2. There was no rush or hurry or incentive to play the game in any way other than how you wanted to.

This made TF2 very unique in the FPS world - the truest example of a "casual shooter". There were no ranks or rewards or incentives to play every day beyond random item drops and the enjoyment derived from simply playing the game itself.

The TF2 team's attempt to 'modernize' TF2 in Meet your Match effectively ruined this.

In addition to the introduction of a new, dedicated 6v6 competitive mode, Quickplay was replaced with 'Casual' - a matchmaking lite that tried to find a middle ground between the chaotic ad-hoc freedom of Quickplay and the more rigid, competitive structure of Competitive. It didn't work. Most TF2 players just wanted to play TF2 - casual forced them to stop and wait for the matchmaking system to find a server for them matching its desired criteria, stop and wait every other round for the server to change maps, stop and wait for matchmaking cooldowns to run out if they left a game in progress - so much time was spent stopping and waiting to play the game that hardly any was left to play the game itself. Yes, some of these problems have since been smoothed over, but Casual still forces the play to spend less time playing the game than Quickplay did. In my opinion, Casual, as it was released, could have been perfectly fine if Quickplay was kept alongside it. Instead, in one fell swoop, the way the vast majority of people played TF2 was effectively removed from the game.

In fairness to the TF2 team regarding this gamble, they were under enormous pressure - not just from a TF2 community growing increasingly paranoid about TF2's future due to the imagined threat of Overwatch - but also from the higher-ups at VALVe they were trying to convince.

However, the TF2 team snuck a back-up plan into Meet your Match - the Heavy vs. Pyro war. By outright promising a future major update (or perhaps two, even!), the TF2 team could at least insure that, no matter what their 'bosses' thought, they could justify their continued work on the game as fulfillment of a promise made to the community. And, if the new update was enough of a hit, it could perhaps inspire their 'bosses' to let TF2 continue to live on, at least for a little while.

So, the TF2 team pulled out all the stops for the next update. Jungle Inferno had an animated short, new maps, new weapons, entirely new features (ie. the contracker), it had a massive hype-spiraling 4-day-long update announcement, major weapon rebalances and overhauls - they clearly tried their damnedest to make the best TF2 update possible.

Whether or not the team managed to convince their superiors is unknowable. Jungle Inferno was followed by the fanfare-less Blue Moon update in early 2018, followed by radio silence. The TF2 team may very well have still been hard at work on the elusive Heavy update, but the double-whammy of the all-hands-on-deck push to get Half-life: Alyx finished and released immediately followed by the COVID pandemic likely reset whatever momentum or motivation the TF2 team had left.

This scenario, as described, is painful enough. From the outside, it appears as though VALVe had rebounded from Meet your Match, and was doing its best to improve the game in the wake of their own missteps, only to suddenly drop TF2 with zero explanation given. TF2 was left in a state of indefinite limbo with no clear outlook whatsoever on the future.

What made this infinitely worse is that VALVe had left the game in a state that wasn't just unfinished, it was broken.

TF2 has literally always had a botting problem. For the first span of the game's life, this generally manifested as idling/trading bots, but later on more and more bots began to appear that sought only to disrupt gameplay. Micspam, false votekicks, aimbotting, speedhacks, etc. - purely for the sake of irritating real players. Until Meet your Match, these cheating bots were relatively uncommon - real players could very easily either kick them from the game or simply join another server via Quickplay. Their impact on gameplay was no more than a minor, brief annoyance, and thus they were considered a non-issue.

Meet your Match's new Casual system, however, dramatically restricted the player's ability to hop to other servers when bots arose. Not only this, but the ability to switch teams at will was disabled on Casual servers, meaning it was now impossible to deal with bots on any team but your own (previously, if the other team was too slow to kick their own bots, it was possible to just wait for an opening on the other team, hop over, and call a votekick against the offending bot that would usually end up succeeding). Now, the disruption caused by a single bot was far more impactful than it had been before - because it was a far greater chore to either kick the bot or find a different server. Moreover, Casual outright incentivizes players to stick to the same server until the end - awarding them extra points the more they play, and nullifying any progress they've made towards a given contract that match if they leave before it ends. Players are thus, in effect, forced to play even when bots have made the game unenjoyable.

This resulted in a feedback loop - bots were now more irritating, so people complained about them more, so bot hosters hosted more bots, making them even more irritating - and that feedback loop has continued nearly unabated until modern day.

The TF2 community has been begging for an end to the botting problem for ages - and there have been genuine efforts from the TF2 team to try and fix the problem, but they have been too small and too infrequent to make much impact. And, to be frank, there is no way to effectively, permanently remove the bots. Attempting to keep any and all bots from the game would require enormous, constant effort from the TF2 team - something which is a very tall ask given VALVe's attitude towards the game for the past decade.

What can be done, however, is to simply make the bots less impactful. To let players more easily avoid them, to let players enjoy the game for longer so the bots are no longer such a nuisance, to let players have enough freedom in how they play that they are no longer forced to suffer through games with bots. It won't outright remove bots forever, but it will make them so much less of a nuisance that bot hosters will likely lose the incentive to bother with them. As soon as that happens, the feedback loop will be broken, and the botting issue will decline in severity as their potential impact on players' enjoyment of the game is neutered.

The simplest way to do this is to make Casual just as free as Quickplay was.

45 minute map timers, extensible by vote.

An Indefinite number of rounds per map.

Ad-hoc joining, leaving, and team switching.

Progress on contracts not erased by leaving mid-round.

These are not overwhelming changes. If anything, it's something of a return to form - not outright bringing back Quickplay, but making Casual into a suitable replacement for it - at long last.

And - most importantly - it's a one-time fix. It does not require an eternal arms race against bot hosters, nor a full return to frequent, massive content updates (though those would be nice).

One update to make TF2 more fun, to make the bots less impactful, and to give the game a better standing for the future.

One update to fix TF2.

-DirtPiper

[tiny-trilobite-toys]

Went to the thrift store and bought a bunch of those toy bags

Real happy with my haul!

Gonna start doing this thing where I post a list of things I got in a haul under the cut

Top Row:

Yeti from Monsters Inc (Hasbro figure set 2001)

Alien from Toy Story (Can not find any information about year or collection)

Tigger from Winnie the Pooh (McDonalds Disney home video masterpiece collection 1996)

Elmer Fudd from Looney Tunes (Arby’s Looney Tunes kids meal set 1988)

Hanzo from Overwatch w/o base (Blizzard Cute but Deadly 2017)

Reaper from Overwatch w/o base (Blizzard Cute but Deadly 2017)

Second Row:

Tigress from Kung Fu Panda (McDonalds Dreamworks All-Stars 2022)

Mini Slumber Party Yasmin (Mini Bratz 2023)

Khalil the caterpillar as Jonah from Veggietales (2002)

Lost Kitties Snoopz (Lost Kitties Kit-twins series 2 2019)

Little gnome dude (1990s Kinder Egg toy)

Rockhopper from Club Penguin (Sometime around 2010)

Third Row (the Shopkins row):

Cookie Nut (Season Four 2014)

Caramel Topping (Season Six 2016)

Penny Wishing Well (Season Five 2016)

Happy Places Key Holder (Grand Mansion playset 2017)

Grace Baseball Bat (Season Five Super Shopper Pack edition 2016)

Veronica Vase (Season Five 2016)

Gracie Birthday Cake (Season Seven 2017)

Happy Places Umbrella Stand (Grand Mansion playset 2017)

Choc Chips (Season Six 2016)

Mintee (Season Four Glitzi Collector’s Case 2015)

Jilly Jam Roll (Season Five Super Shopper Pack edition 2016)

Tammy Tambourine (Season Five Super Shopper Pack edition 2016)

Fourth Row (Trash Pack Row):

Rotten Roll in Yellow (Series Three 2012)

Saver Krout in White (Series Five 2013)

Dung Bug in Purple (Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Trashteroid in Green (Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Grotty Fruity in Green (Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Trash Top in Purple (Series Five 2013)

Skabby Shark in Light Blue (Series Three 2012)

Garbage Goat in Brown (Series Three 2012)

Sudz in Orange(Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Burny in Green (Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Burny in Purple (Gross Ghosts Series Two 2013)

Slime Python in Red (Series Three 2012)

Slime Python in Purple (Series Three 2012)

Cruddy Kebab in Lime (Series Three 2012)

Football Virus in Light Green (Series 7 2014)

Grot Pot in Yellow (Series Three 2012)

Fifth Row (Trash Wheels Row):

Beetle in Yellow (Series One 2013)

Fast Flea in Yellow (Series One 2013)

Muck Monster in Green (Series One 2013)

Last Row (Grossery Gang Row):

Rotting Toothpaste in Blue (Series One 2016)

Sour Milk in Blue (Series One 2016)

Fungus Fries in Purple (Series One 2016)

Stale Muffin in Blue (Series One 2016)

Sour Pineapple in Orange (Series One 2016)

[eretzyisrael]

by John Podhoretz

The great delusion of post-Marx history is that change results from vast impersonal forces rather than the workings of individual human actions and unforeseen circumstances. What history records is the way free will and sheer contingency gum up the works of the Great Machine of Progress.

Would there have been an Arab Spring without a fruit vendor in Tunisia setting himself on fire in 2010? What if Derek Chauvin had taken the day off on June 20, 2020? What if there had been a blizzard on January 6, 2021?

And…what if Yahya Sinwar had hit his head on a pipe in a tunnel on October 6, been concussed, and hadn’t given the order to move on the kibbutzim and the Nova festival on October 7? Had he hit his head, would we be living in a world today in which Hamas has been all but destroyed, in which Hezbollah has been literally and perhaps fatally crippled, in which Iranian strikes against Israel have led to the mullahs losing their air defenses while steeling themselves for the loss of their nuclear program—and with the Assads gone from power in Syria after 53 years of ghoulish evil the likes of which the world has rarely ever witnessed?

All for the want of a horseshoe nail.

You could argue that a war conducted by Israel to destroy Hamas was always in the cards, just as the Israelis demonstrated they had thought the same with Hezbollah, since, beginning in 2015, they planned to destroy the Iranian catamite army by creating a shell import-export company that specialized in communications devices—and then laid in wait to activate the plan.

The war happened, though, because Sinwar made it happen. It was different north of Israel. The Jewish state chose the time, manner, and place of the pager detonation. They chose. It didn’t just happen. Impersonal forces didn’t move the levers in Gaza or in Lebanon. Leaders did.

Now, why Israel waited as the country’s north was depopulated and the financial, logistical, and psychological costs of that depopulation mounted will be matters of controversy there for the coming generation. Clearly its leaders believed they had to deal with Sinwar’s unprecedented blow first. And clearly they were managing world opinion, which is to say American opinion.

Israel knew it needed to win the war with Hamas, and that there was no way to conclude the war with Hamas without turning north and taking out Hezbollah. And I think Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet (as much as they all hated and hate each other) knew that the United States under Joe Biden simply did not want Israel to win. Biden and Co. may have wanted Israel to prevail in some fashion—but not if it was going to be too much of a pain in the Democratic Party’s ass.

At some point, Israel could not manage this ludicrous balancing act—prevailing without winning—and it moved. That was a choice. Human choice. And that choice led to other choices. Choices to make it clear that the Iran-backed terrorists had no quarter. Think you’re safe in Tehran? Think again, Haniyeh. Think you’re in the clear in Beirut? Bye-bye, Nasrallah. Think you can strike Israel without consequence from Tehran? No more defenses, mullahs. Think you just stay in Syria and keep sending weaponry through the Levant to your boys south of the Litani River? Say goodbye to Syria, Khamenei.

None of these events was inevitable. Rafah could have gone uninvaded. The pagers could have remained in Hezbollah pockets. Israel could have “taken the win,” as Joe Biden urged, wrongly, as was true of everything he has ever urged. It’s often said that the side that starts and loses a war does so out of a misperception of risk. The misperception that has led to this epochal change in the Middle East has to do with the way foolish Muslim fanatics and equally foolish American liberals view the Jews.

Here’s how they should view us:

We’re the eternal people.

You’re just the nomads.

[animentality]

I'm sorry.

I'm just laughing over like... overwatch fans being mad at me for saying their game isn't that fucking great at queer rep.

it has TWO LGBT characters who were openly LGBT as SOON AS THEY WERE RELEASED.

that's fucking Lifeweaver, added to the game in 2023, and Venture-

a fucking nonbinary character who ISNT in the game yet.

do you understand why this is laughable?

overwatch has been around for 8 fucking years and it took a fucking sequel to force them to reveal characters were queer from the get go.

for the past 8 years, they've been queerbaiting mercy and pharah, while hocking how canon gency is, they have been teasing roadhog and junkrat, barely, and I guess.

if you MUST defend blizzard.

you can say well it's ok they did reveal tracer was a lesbian on Twitter and then they admitted soldier 76 was gay literally 3 years after he was released, and then they made pharah a lesbian and baptiste bisexual- literally 7 years after pharah was released and 4 years after Baptiste was.

yeah.

so progressive revealing that in random comics and lore bits that barely show up in game, if they ever do. and I haven't played overwatch in a while, because I have a high degree of respect for myself, but from what I fucking remember, soldier doesn't say shit about his boyfriend, if he even has one, tracer only makes a reference or two to Emily, who might as well be her sister with how mild it was.

and I vaguely recall Baptiste flirting with ana. and pharah as far as I know has never ever said anything about all the hot chicks she dates on the side.

and that's it.

that's your amazing queer rep.

you have two queer characters from the start who were not retroactively made gay, and one hasn't even been released yet.

good work, blizzard.

so revolutionary.

y'all know blizzard is an American company and gay marriage has been legal in the US since 2015?

whereas apex legends literally started OFF in 2019 openly stating hey this character is trans and this one is nonbinary and this one is gay and this one is a lesbian and these TWO literally hit on men and women- oh also the pansexual and nb PLAYABLE CHARACTERS are dating and they flirt and dote on each other in game-

but I'm getting flak from you weirdo blizzard fans who for some reason think blizzard is worth your devotion?

even if it was good at queer rep, I am not sure if fucking blizzard and OVERWATCH 2, one of the biggest monetary scams in all of gaming are the hills you want to die on.

but at least you'll be dead.

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Faust • sacrifice • E.F.B～恒久の氷結～2012 [E.F.B ~Eternal Force Blizzard~ 2012] • B.R.D ～叛逆の劫焔～ [B.R.D ~Flames of Rebellion~] • Choir - Dedicated to BRAVEs - • Baptism ～贖罪のロザリィ～ [Baptism ~Rosary of Atonement~] • Prisoners' Gloria • Creuzer • - moonlight waltz -　月夜の舞踏譜 [- moonlight waltz - Music for Dancing on Moonlight Night] • E.F.B ～恒久の氷結～ 2012 [Eternal Force Blizzard 2012]

YouTube

[luv4estiebestie]

Stucky fanfic recs

below you can find some of my all time favourite Stucky fics that have ruined my life 💕 not really sorted except for the first three which are my all time favourites

creative | canon adjacent | AU | modern AU | small steve | sexual content

United States v. Barnes, 617 F. Supp. 2d 143 (D.D.C. 2015)

The Associated Press @AP

Winter Soldier set to stand trial for Washington D.C. massacre and treason apne.ws/1og6SWE

(Creative, canon adjacent)

End OTW Racism | Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film

“Heil Hydra,” the enemy agent shouts.

“Heil this, motherfucker,” says Captain America, shooting off a rocket.

Steve and Bucky find out Hollywood has been busy since they went away. A historical survey, including but not limited to: one set of exploded genitals, a brief interlude in France, Mel Gibson and other masterworks of casting, eight Academy awards, several dinosaurs, and something Tony Stark has ominously dubbed “the masterpiece.” Art included.

(creative, canon adjacent)

A long winter

In 1945, Steve Rogers jumps from a nosediving plane and swims through miles of Arctic Ocean to a frozen shore.

In 1947, Steve Rogers marries Peggy Carter.

In 1966, the New York Times finds the lost letters of Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

(AU)

Just say you do

Steve just wanted a job. He wasn't expecting a marriage proposal. And he certainly wasn't expecting to accept.

(Modern AU, small Steve)

ain't no grave (can keep my body down)

It's six in the morning, and Steve is heading out on a run when he nearly trips over a bouquet of sunflowers on the front steps of his brownstone.

For a second paranoia takes over, and he kicks the flowers a little, waiting for them to explode. They don't. They also came with a card, which he picks up. The front of the card has a tasteful picture of the Brooklyn bridge at sunset. It's very nice and sedate, like the kind of card you would buy to give to your boss. On the inside someone has written a short message in big, shaky block letters.

I AM SORRY FOR SHOOTING YOU.

Steve sits down hard on the steps.

(Canon adjacent)

casual encounters

“You have never once been careful in your entire life.” Bucky huffs out a laugh. He looks away. “Maybe I’m offended you didn’t think to ask me.” He says it like a joke, but he can’t bring himself to laugh again.

“Bucky,” Steve says, scandalized. “You’re my friend. I’m not gonna use you to experiment sexually.”

(Modern AU, small Steve, sexual content)

If they haven't learned your name

Steve gets out of the hospital in two days, but just barely. “I’m fine,” he tells Sam, Nurse Eunjung and the phalanx of doctors assigned to make sure Captain America didn’t bleed out and die and get bad PR all over their nice clean hospital. “I have an advanced healing factor. It’s fine. See? I’m standing.”

“That is not standing,” Sam tells him.

“You’re bending the IV stand,” Nurse Eunjung adds pointedly. “Let go and sit down, they don’t grow on trees.”

aka Steve and Bucky's Global Honeymoon Revenge World Tour.

(Canon adjacent)

choices we're given

Steve Rogers is a good man and a good agent. There's really no excuse for the assassin in his bed.

(Modern AU, sexual content)

through the woods

There’s a legend in Mansewood, nearly as old as the town itself, about a pack of werewolves that once lived in the forest. They say only one survives; a monstrous and snarling beast with fur like a blizzard and fangs the size of daggers. They say it guards the lands and all creatures in it, and no hunter has faced it and lived to tell the tale.

Steve doesn’t care about any of that. He only wants to know if it prefers T-Bone or ribeye, and would it please stop tracking dirt through his house? He just mopped the floor.

(Modern AU, sexual content)